The telescope there is a 20-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector. Unfortunately, according to the guy running the session (a grad student named Libby), someone broke the focusing controls a week or two ago, so it was a little disappointing.

Even with the focusing problems, it was a fun night out. Libby was informative, teaching us some star hopping with his green laser pointer as well as explaining what we were seeing through the scope. I will go to another session in April when Jupiter is up (if not before).

The NASA spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Mars on March 10, 2006. It will provide more information about the planet than all previous NASA Mars missions combined. Participants will address mission goals and the sequence of events necessary to successfully place the vehicle into orbit around Mars.

As I’ve written before, my hobbies and interests change often. I decided to start to write them down to see how they change over time. This is just for my own curiousity about myself and probably pretty boring for the rest of you but here it is anyway.